Is the iPhone 5c struggling to sell? Wal-Mart cuts price to $45

Best Buy is offering a $100 trade-in credit on smartphones that can be used to buy the $99 iPhone 5c.

Best Buy is offering a $100 trade-in credit on smartphones that can be used to buy the $99 iPhone 5c. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg)

Salvador Rodriguez

Price cuts just weeks after the iPhone 5c's release may suggest that Apple is struggling to sell the smartphone.

Wal-Mart announced Friday that it will cut the price of the iPhone 5c to $45 with a two-year contract, less than half the device's normal $99 contract price. Previously, Wal-Mart was selling the device for less than its competitors, at $79 with a two-year contract.

Wal-Mart said the $45 price will last throughout the holiday shopping season.

The price cut comes the day after Best Buy announced that customers who buy the iPhone 5c in its stores will also receive a $50 gift card that they can apply to the purchase.

The specials are a big surprise considering the new Apple smartphone has been on sale for only two weeks. Typically when retailers start cutting prices and offering specials, it means the gadget is not selling well.

The iPhone 5c is a plastic-cased version of Apple's smartphone. It comes in five different color options and costs $100 less than the new, feature-laden iPhone 5s, which uses a metal shell.

The iPhone 5s is doing well in sales. In particular, the gold version is backordered online and sold out at various Apple Stores nationwide.